Instagram flags Madonna post for 'inaccurate' coronavirus information
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube all removed the video,
Facebook-owned Instagram flagged and subsequently removed a video that Madonna and others posted to their profiles for "false information."
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The controversial video featuring Houston Dr. Stella Immanuel discussing her personal experience using malaria treatment hydroxychloroquine — a drug President Trump has touted as an effective coronavirus treatment — on COVID-19 patients has been flagged or removed across several social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.
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"They would rather let fear control the people and let the rich get richer and the poor get poorer," Madonna's caption read below the since-deleted video.
Facebook spokesperson Raki Wane told FOX Business that the post violated Facebook's rules against COVID-19 misinformation.
"We’ve removed this video for making false claims about cures and prevention methods for COVID-19," Wane said. "People who reacted to, commented on, or shared this video, will see messages directing them to authoritative information about the virus."
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The removal came after Instagram flagged the post with a warning label reading, "False Information," which users could click through to see the post and more information from third-party fact-checkers stating COVID-19 has no cure, screenshots from pop-culture news website Pop Crave show.
Twitter removed the post from its platform after President Trump posted it to his 84.3 million followers. The social media site also limited some of Donald Trump Jr.'s account capabilities on Tuesday after he shared the video.
A bottle of hydroxychloroquine tablets in Texas City, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
A Twitter spokesperson told FOX Business at the time that the video violated the website's misinformation policies.
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Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube updated their misinformation policies earlier in the year to include coronavirus misinformation; all platforms have generally committed to either removing or labeling misinformation, such as conspiracy theories or false claims, regarding COVID-19 to promote user safety.
The malaria treatment has not been proven to cure COVID-19, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that there is no antiviral treatment for the virus to date, although administration officials and Trump have pointed out that the drug was politicized after he expressed confidence in its effectiveness from early on in the pandemic.
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Studies show mixed results for use of HCQ in treating COVID-19. A number of organizations and companies have stopped clinical trials of the drug after Oxford University released a study on June 5 that found HCQ had no "beneficial effect" on patients.
A more recent Henry Ford Hospital study published on July 3 found that hospitalized COVID-19 patients treated with HCQ, as well as those treated with a combination of the drug with an antibiotic, had higher survival rates than those who were not treated with the malaria drug.
